The Smile of His Rose
by myriddle
Summary: Rose is followed by a mysterious stranger in a bowtie.
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. Okay, so I am fully aware that it is canon that Rose is locked away in a parallel universe working for Torchwood and having her happy ending with Doctor II. However, since I will forever ship Rose and the original doctor, the story goes as follows. During the Battle of Canary Wharf, the Doctor couldn't let Rose sacrifice herself, so he took her place and he instead was locked away into the parallel universe. There, he regenerated and fought his way back through the cracks in time to get back to Rose.**

**This is the first fanfic I've ever written, so it's pretty short and not all that good, but I hope you guys like it nevertheless. Please review!**

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><p>He's been following her since Tottenham Court Road.<p>

She glances back several times, but keeps on walking. Finally, she stops in front of a shop window.

She takes a deep breath. "I hope you have a good reason for following me," she murmurs, eyes still fixated on his reflection in the window.

He does not reply at first, at loss for words to say. There are so many, yet so little time. After a few moments, she gathers her courage and slowly turns around.

She looks amazing, her honey blonde hair longer than when he last saw her. Her eyelashes glistening with little droplets of rain, she lifts her gaze and looks at him.

The man standing in front of her bears the face of a stranger. He is unlike anything she's ever seen before. He is young and rather handsome, his brown hair flopping over dark green eyes. He is wearing a tweed jacket over an oddly patterned shirt with suspenders and a bow tie.

He's wearing a bow tie, she thinks to herself, trying to hide a smile. She has only ever known one man who could ever dream of wearing something as ridiculous. As she remembers, she suddenly feels as if someone has stabbed open a slowly healing wound. Forget, she tells herself as the memories that she has tried so hard to forget come flooding back.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

It is then that she realizes that her eyes are filled with tears. Embarrassed, she suddenly remembers why she has stopped in the first place. She looks into his eyes and sees that they are filled with concern, which she finds strange for a stranger.

"Yes. Of course I am. Now, why have you been following me?" she asks in a defiant tone, trying to regain her usual confidence.

"I have my reasons, Rose Tyler," he answers with a slightly mischievous expression on his face.

She freezes. How could he ever know that? Ever since she had moved back to London, she had started going by a different name. She had tried to leave the past behind, tried to make a fresh start: a new life. The only person who could ever know...the only person who could even remember...

"Doctor?" she whispers, her eyebrows knitting together. There's hope on her face, and fear, and love and nostalgia, and so many other emotions. He picks up every single one.

"Hello," he says, his mouth stretching into a smile.

"But...you can't be," she says, her lips trembling.

"New face," he says reassuringly, leaning towards her, "same old me."

And because he wants to, because he has spent the last two hundred years unable to stop thinking about her, he kisses her. Her lips taste wonderful, with a hint of salt from her tears - just as they were the time he last kissed her.

After a few moments, she unwillingly pulls away.

"How?" she asks, her eyes filled with wonder.

"It's all a rather long and complicated story, one littered with cracks in time, Daleks - all that kind of business, you know. I'll tell you someday. But not today," he says, smiling.

"So you're staying?" she asks, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice.

"No, I'm not staying. You know better than anyone I could never stay."

"Then why did you come back?" she demands, suddenly angry.

"I have cried myself to sleep over you. I have spent the last five years trying to forget, to move on, and now you just turn up and expect to just say 'hello' and then leave?"

"Well, the truth is...I came back just to ask you a question."

"And that is?"

He pauses, his face bearing an unreadable expression before breaking into a grin.

"Come with me?"

It is then that she smiles, truly smiles - the smile of his Rose.


	2. Chapter 2

"So where are we going this time?" Rose asks.

She looks down at the checklist she created before they had started.

"Mmmmm...the 2020 Olympic Games, check. Julius Caesar and Cleopatra? Met them just now, didn't we? Let's see...who haven't we visited yet...Mozart!" she exclaims.

Rose looks up, only to see that the Doctor does not share in her excitement. In fact, he looks rather nervous and uncomfortable.

"Are you sure?", the Doctor asks. "Isn't there any other time or place that you would rather want to go? We could swing by my old friend Winston Churchill, or Albert Einstein for that matter."

"But that would be ever so dull," she says. "I want to meet the most talented musician in history. Maybe he'll even write a song in my name - Vincent van Gogh was seemed happy enough to dedicate one of his paintings to me, remember that?" she adds teasingly and laughs.

"I suppose...if you insist," he says.

"Victory!" she shouts, tackling him into a very enthusiastic hug.

He forces a smile and says, "Well, don't get used to it."

As he sets the course of the TARDIS to Vienna, 1781, Rose watches him. It is as if he knows something she doesn't. He has always kept secrets, the Doctor, but this seemed like something entirely different.

"What's wrong?" she asks him.

"It's nothing," he says, attempting a smile. For a moment she sees something more in his eyes, a deep pain as if - but then it's gone, replaced by his usual carefree composure.

She doesn't completely believe him, but she trusts; so she lets it go.


	3. Chapter 3

"It's beautiful here," Rose exclaims as they climb out of the TARDIS.

She only has moments to take everything in because suddenly she hears a very familiar whooshing sound.

"But it...can't be," she says quietly, looking at the Doctor.

He doesn't seem surprised - quite on the contrary, he looks as if he had been expecting this all along. There again is that look in his eyes - the indescribable pain and sadness.

Rose barely has time to contemplate this, because just then a blue police box starts to materialize about a hundred feet away.

She gasps. Its the TARDIS. That can't be possible, she thinks as it becomes more and more visible.

"Doctor, what on earth -," Rose starts, but it is then that someone climbs out of the police box. Someone very familiar - too familiar.

It's the Doctor.

My Doctor, she thinks. He is the man with whom she has had countless adventures, the man whom she knew before this new, strange Doctor showed up. From the sideburns, to the blue suit, to the Converse sneakers poking out from under his long coat, he is so very much her Doctor.

Before she can think of what she is doing, Rose starts running towards him. She crosses the distance in mere seconds. She jumps into his arms. In less than a moment, their lips meet.

"I've missed you so much," she whispers in his ear,.

"I've missed you too," he says smiling down at her. With her Doctor's smile.

"But who's that over there? And is that another TARDIS?"

It is then that Rose remembers the other Doctor.

He has been watching them all along. He has known that this would happen - ever since he had started traveling through time and space with Rose again, time had started to rewrite itself. His memories were changing. The moment Rose asked to go to Vienna, he had known.

He couldn't interfere with his own time stream. Both versions of himself being here at the same time was causing a paradox that could rip a whole in the universe. The younger version of him could never know who he truly was, or else the whole of time could cease to exist.

He couldn't stay. And if Rose were to continue traveling with him - the older him, to be exact - she wouldn't be able to stay either.

Rose has to make a choice, and the Doctor already knows what it will be. He remembers.

As Rose sees him close door, she runs back to him, but the TARDIS is already disappearing. Still, she runs. Within moments, it is gone.

As she turns around, she sees her Doctor coming towards her, a confused expression on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asks, his face full of concern.

She chokes on the tears rolling down her face, unable to speak.

"Who was that man?" he asks as he wraps his arms around her.

After several moments, Rose looks into his eyes.

Her voice shaking, she answers.

"Nobody."


End file.
